roommate
Americannoun
-
roommates
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of roommate
Explanation
Someone who shares a dorm room or an apartment with you is your roommate. Even if you live in a big house, the people who share it with you — and split the rent — are your roommates. If you live in a dormitory when you go to college, you'll probably have at least one roommate, and even after college it's common to share an apartment or house with roommates. You can call the campers in your cabin at summer camp roommates, though you could also call them cabin mates. The word roommate was a late eighteenth century American English invention.
Vocabulary lists containing roommate
List 1
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List 9
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
His roommate, the same one he rented with, helps him pay the mortgage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
I had a roommate in college who collected Margiela and Morgane Le Fay.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
Living with a roommate would be significantly cheaper than living alone, but he hasn’t found a potential roommate who doesn’t already have pets or who is OK living with two cats.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
He has since found a roommate who helps pay a substantial portion of the mortgage.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 1, 2026
“No, sir. No. I’ve always done my job quietly, without complaint. It’s just, Mr. Lewin, sir. I wanted to write an article to bring attention to my roommate Yakov’s death, and he stole my idea!”
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
University of Arizona football player Noah Fifita started his college career living in student housing with five roommates.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 10, 2026
A few times she moved to live with roommates to bring down the cost of renting.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 26, 2026
And though the accommodations changed throughout the years, they’d remain roommates through 2010, their debut season in the majors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 25, 2026
Washington Post columnist Marc Thiessen reminisced about working two jobs, living with roommates and eating ramen after college.
From Salon ● Aug. 13, 2026
“Hey, what’s going on?” queried one of his roommates drowsily.
From "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
